Mother accused of overdosing in convenience store bathroom while son was locked in car

CHARLACK, Mo. – A Missouri woman is accused of overdosing on fentanyl in a convenience store bathroom, leaving her five-year-old son locked inside her car. No one else knew he was there.

Police look at the case as yet another new low in the opioid crisis.

Anastasia Trinidad, 24, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Both she and her son could have died, police told KTVI.

According to a spokesman for the St. Ann Police Department, the incident unfolded Thursday evening at the 7-11 store on St. Charles Rock Road in Charlack, which is patrolled by St. Ann police.

Employees at the store called police for help when Trinidad failed to come back out of the bathroom. Police found her slumped over in a stall, showing signs of a heroin or fentanyl overdose. An officer administered Narcan and Trinidad came to and almost immediately began asking, “where’s my boy?”

Police found the boy in her car outside.

“[He] was in the backseat crying,” said St. Ann Police Commander Jeffrey Tesdall. “Further investigation showed it was upwards of 30 minutes she was in that bathroom and left her 5-year-old son unattended in the car. The windows were up. Unfortunately, a 5-year-old child that’s uninvolved in this, you know it’s not his fault for mom taking that, but like you say, he could have been a victim of a homicide. It’s tragic. It’s a shame.”